


Unrequited

by ghostmaya



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, If the story continued it would build up to Klance, Langst, POV Lance (Voltron), Unrequited Allurance, Unrequited Crush, background lotura
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-07-11 18:01:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15977561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostmaya/pseuds/ghostmaya
Summary: As they began stacking chairs, Keith looked over to Lance. He seemed unsure about something. Lance quirked his eyebrow.“Do they… Hunk and Pidge I mean… do they always tease you like that?”Lance’s heart skipped a beat.“Haha, jumping right to the point there are we,” he said weakly, “Typical Keith.”





	Unrequited

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote the majority of this fanfiction post season six. The first scene with Pidge, Hunk and Lance is taken directly from the episode ‘Razor’s Blade’, but with a change of scenery. The other major difference is that Keith is there as well, and from there it’s a canon divergence of sorts where I take everything into account and expand on the aftermath. It’s a one-shot for now but let me know in the comments if there’s interest for a continuation because I have several ideas on where I can take this story next.

Lance stared at his hand wiping the cappuccino machine, wishing for the hundredth time that day that he hadn’t seen Allura and Lotor in the back. Pidge and Hunk were talking behind him, but he didn’t bother paying attention.

“Lance,” started Pidge, Lance perking up at his name, “we’re trying to set up a new program for the menu, could you help out?”

Lance scrubbed the machine faster, not answering.

“I think that _lover boy Lance_ is distracted thinking about _Allura_ ,” Hunk teased. Lance’s eyebrow twitched.

A penny hit his head and bounced to the ground.

“Ow!” He brought his hand to his head and turned. “What the heck, guys?!”

Pidge was snickering, and Keith had stopped stacking cups, obviously disturbed.

Hunk brought his hands to his heart and mocked Allura’s accent, “Oh Lance, could you please stop thinking about me and help Hunk and Pidge out?”

“Haha, very funny,” retorted Lance, and turned back to the machine, “And I’m not daydreaming about you- I mean her.”

“That’s good,” said Pidge, “because it seems like she’s got a thing with Lotor.”

“A thing!?” he yelled out before he could stop himself. They’re really going to have at him now.

“Yeah, a thing,” said Hunk matter-of-factly, as if Lance hadn’t been pining after her for the past couple months.

“They’re probably gonna get married, have babies with beautiful, flowing, white hair, all that stuff.”

Lance knew that Hunk’s teasing was all in good fun, but this time it really hurt more than usual. He wasn’t in the mood to start a fight, so he just stood there silently. It wasn’t as if Hunk was lying.

“He’s probably proposing right now,” continued Pidge, locking hands with Hunk, “Allura, will you marry me?”

It felt as if fumes would start steaming out his ears as his lip trembled.

“Oh, Lotor,” said Hunk mocking Allura’s accent again, “You bad boy, of course I will.”

Lance was shaking, grinding his teeth. He was so close to breaking.

He stopped. He breathed. He looked down to the floor. When had it come to this? He couldn’t speak his mind to Hunk and Pidge anymore.

They were right, too. Lance shouldn’t be so hung up on Allura. She’s her own person. He squeezed the cloth he was still holding and swallowed down all of his rotten emotions. They sunk into his stomach and sat there like a rock weighing him down.

Hunk and Pidge’s shift ended, leaving Lance and Keith to close.

The two worked in silence for a bit.

As they began stacking chairs, Keith looked over to Lance. He seemed unsure about something. Lance quirked his eyebrow.

“Do they… Hunk and Pidge I mean… do they always tease you like that?”

Lance’s heart skipped a beat.   
“Haha, jumping right to the point there are we,” he said weakly, “Typical Keith.”

Keith stayed silent, continuing to stack chairs.

“I mean… yeah? I guess… it’s not like they’re trying to be mean or anything, so I can’t get mad at them.”

“Why not?” asked Keith.

“Ugh, I don’t- it’s just how they show affection or something, I dunno. And it’s not like they were wrong about my dumb feelings.”

Keith pinched his eyebrows together. He mumbled, “Doesn’t seem like affection to me.” Lance stacked another chair. Keith leaned on the table and crossed his arms, sighing. “Look. I don’t know much about friendship and all that… but I do know that that’s not what it’s supposed to look like. I don’t know what happened between the three of you or whatever, but the only way it’s going to get better is if you tell them directly about how you feel.”

“I can’t just… _do that_ though,” protested Lance.

“Why not?” asked Keith again.

Heat rose to Lance’s cheeks. “You’re so hard to talk to, you know that?”

“No, I’m not, you’re just unwilling to recognize that I’m right.”

Lance groaned, moving to the next table.

“Well if you’re right, why haven’t you confided all of your deep dark hatred for me?”

“I don’t hate you, Lance,” sighed Keith, “I never have. You were the one who had the problem with _me_ , remember?”

Lance’s cheeks started to burn. “I didn’t have a problem with you, asshole, I was just jealous that you were so good at everything.”

Keith stopped stacking his chair, and Lance saw his ears turn bright red. Lance’s own ears decided to follow suit.

“Oh.”

Lance coughed. “Yup. Well. That just happened.” His heart beat wildly in his ears, as he clenched the table and tried to calm down. When his face finally cooled, he dared to peak around the chair to see Keith standing across from him.

“I didn’t know…” said Keith.

“Yeah, well, now you do,” said Lance, and winced because it came off angrier than he intended.

“You know that there’s no reason to be jealous of me, right?”

“Well, I know that _now_ , but when I first met you everyone around me was like ‘oo _Keith_ with his cool _bike_ and _astronaut brother_ and _nice_ _hair_.” Lance flushed. “I know that wasn’t an excuse for being an asshole, but it sure did seem like one back then.” He really hoped Keith didn’t notice his blush.

Keith was silent for a moment and looked down at his crossed arms. His voice sounded soft as he jokingly said, “Who said I had nice hair?”

Lance’s face continued to burn at a steady rate. “You know what, _mullet_ ,” he jabbed, not thinking of anything else to say.

Keith puffed up a chuckle. “Y’see? Communication _does_ work.”

“Oh, shut up,” said Lance.

He and Keith stacked the last couple of chairs, and Lance went to the back to grab the soap water and mop while Keith swept up the garbage.

When he walked in, his eyes were immediately drawn to the bench where he saw Allura and Lotor… doing whatever they were doing. Lance didn’t even know if he despised Lotor because of who he was, or because he has ‘a thing’ with Allura, and that really scared him.

Whoever closed shop yesterday didn’t have the courtesy to empty the mop bucket; Lance suspected Lotor but it wasn’t like bringing it up would do any good, so he emptied it himself and started to fill it again with the hose from outside.

He stared at his reflection in the water; he wore bags under his eyes, and his frown went deeper than he thought it did. That conversation with Keith was the first time he opened up to anyone about anything in… he didn’t even know how long.

He collected up the mops and bucket and made his way back into the shop. He handed the second mop over to Keith and started on the floor.

The soapy water swirled on the floor, wiping off all the invisible dust and guck that had collected over the day. Lance watched Keith move around his half of the store out of the corner of his eyes. He noticed that it was dark outside, and besides the occasional car, the only sound was the mops swishing and their feet shuffling around the floor.

He sighed. “I really like her Keith.”

“I know,” said Keith, his voice sounding tight.

“Did you know?”

“Know what?”

“About her and Lotor?”

“Yeah, I figured it out.”

Lance sighed again. “Is it bad that I hate him for it?”

“I mean, he’s a jackass, but yeah that’s the wrong reason to hate him.”

“Yeah, I know. I suck. Which is probably why she chose him over me.”

Keith frowned. “You don’t really think that’s the reason, right?”

“Well- no? Maybe? I dunno. This is just all so confusing, I don’t think I’ve ever really felt this way about anyone before.”

Lance picked at some rough wood at the top of the mop. He shouldn’t have been thinking that way, but his emotions were taking charge like usual. He knew Allura didn’t hate him, and he had no business knowing why she chose to be with someone like Lotor. Keith was right, as usual. But for the first time, Lance was glad that Keith was right.

“Hey, Lance?”

“Mmm?” Lance looked up from the mop, right at Keith. His eyes were soft, with a hint of sadness, but he was smiling. Lance had never seen Keith like this before, and it kind of took him off guard.

“You don’t suck, okay?”

Lance ignored his burning cheeks this time, giving Keith a small smile in return, “Thank you. You, uh, you don’t suck either. And, uh. Thank you. Again. I feel- I feel a lot better now.”

“That’s good. Yeah. Thank you, too. For trusting me, and opening up and all that shit.”

“Yeah, yeah, communication, amiright?”

“Right. Now, we should probably finish closing up.”

“Yeah, probably.”  


**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr](https://ghost-maya.tumblr.com/)


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